Two key components of App State Wrestling announce their return

Two-time All-American Jonathan Millner and Cody Bond, another SoCon champion during his college career, announced Friday that they plan to return to App State and compete for the Mountaineers in the 2022-23 season. .

Millner and Bond will enter their sixth year at Boone — due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the shortened 2020-21 season did not count against an NCAA wrestler’s eligibility. Since signing up, the Mountaineers have won three SoCon regular season titles under head coach JohnMark Bentley.

Millner started the last three years at 149 pounds, winning three SoCon championships, and Bond won a SoCon championship at 157 pounds in his first season as a starter before making the finals and heading to Detroit as a starter. as alternate NCAA championships to complete the 2021-22 season.

Millner placed sixth in Detroit after finishing eighth at the 2021 NCAA Championships in St. Louis to become the 20th overall All-American and second two-time NCAA All-American in App State Wrestling history. He finished the 2022 season with a 24-4 record to improve his career record to 92-21, including 71-9 in his three years as a starter (with six of the losses coming in NCAA competition) .

“My time here at Appalachian has been amazing, and I’m extremely lucky to have accomplished everything I have,” Millner said. “I want to thank God, my family, my coaches and my teammates because I couldn’t have come this far without them. In the end, I realized that I hadn’t achieved all of my goals. I decided to go back to App State and wrestle my senior year. See you guys back at the Varsity Gym for one last round!”

After a 1-1 opening day at this year’s NCAA, Millner went 4-0 on Day 2 with an 8-1 decision over eighth seed Max Murin of Iowa to earn All-Star honors. America and a 9-4 decision against the fifth seed. Arizona State’s Kyle Parco in the next game. His five wins helped App State to a top-30 NCAA team finish.

Bond posted a 32-14 overall record and a 14-1 record in SoCon duels during his two years as a starter. He qualified for the NCAA championships in 2021 with his SoCon title and owned a top-33 national ranking throughout a 2021-22 season in which he went 19-8. Bond reached the SoCon Finals and lost a 5-4 decision with the only automatic NCAA spot on the line to Dazjon Casto of The Citadel, who won three games against ACC opponents in Detroit.

Bond made it to the NCAA as a second alternate and worked with Millner on several occasions to help him on his way to the medal stand.

“The last five years have been nothing short of amazing,” Bond said. “I am delighted to announce that I will be returning to represent the ‘A’ for another year! The goals remain the same – I look forward to seeing you soon!”